Abbey Lincoln is a noted blues singer and a stage and film actress. This essay
was part of a panel discussion, Black Writers' Visions of America, held at the
New School for Social Research in New York City in 1965.

Since the masculine and feminine principles do not and never have
been entities unto themselves, but the one interdependent upon the
other, and the two reflections, one to the other, I will deal with the
African-American image in music, as seen from the viewpoint of the
feminine component.

The African-American woman is the most significantly creative and
widely imitated singer-artist, in the world today. She has set the pace
and still sets the pace for the creative singer of contemporary AfricanAmerican music.

The Black woman of the United States of America has emerged as
a symbol of depth, vitality, strength and sincerity. Her influence and
womanliness has been heard and felt throughout the world, in the
concert halls, on the vaudeville stage, on Broadway, in the intimate

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